Dhruva (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

: ध्रुव, , lit. "''unshakeable, immovable, or fixed"'') was an ascetic devotee of

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

mentioned in the

Vishnu Purana The Vishnu Purana (IAST:, sa, विष्णुपुराण) is one of the eighteen Puranas#Mahapuranas, Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature c ...

and the

Bhagavata Purana The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in Sa ...

. The Sanskrit term ''dhruva nakshatra'' (ध्रुव नक्षत्र, "polar star") has been used for

Pole Star A pole star or polar star is a star, preferably bright, nearly aligned with the axis of a rotating astronomical body. Currently, Earth's pole stars are Polaris (Alpha Ursae Minoris), a bright magnitude-2 star aligned approximately with its ...

in the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

, personified as son of Uttānapāda and grandson of

Manu Manu may refer to: Geography * Manú Province, a province of Peru, in the Madre de Dios Region **Manú National Park, Peru ** Manú River, in southeastern Peru * Manu River (Tripura), which originates in India and flows into Bangladesh *Manu Tem ...

, even though

Polaris Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that ...

at the likely period of the recension of the text of the Mahabharata was still several degrees away from the

celestial pole The north and south celestial poles are the two points in the sky where Earth's rotation around a fixed axis, axis of rotation, indefinitely extended, intersects the celestial sphere. The north and south celestial poles appear permanently dire ...

Narrative

Dhruva was born as son of the King Uttānapāda (the son of

Svayambhuva Manu Swayambhuva Manu (Sanskrit: स्वयम्भुव मनु) is the first of the fourteen Manus. The king also had another son Uttama, born to his second queen Suruchi, who was the preferred object of his affection. Once, when Dhruva was a child of five years of age, he saw his younger brother, Uttama sitting on his father's lap at the King's throne. Suruchi, who was jealous of the older son from the first wife (since he - Dhruva - would be heir to throne, and not Suruchi's son), cruelly scolded young Dhruva for his efforts to sit on his father's lap. When Dhruva protested and asked if he could not be allowed to sit on his father's lap, Suruchi berated him saying, 'Go ask god to be born in my womb. Only then will you have the privilige'. Suniti - being of gentle nature and now the lesser favorite wife - tried to console the distraught child, but Dhruva was determined to hear of his fate from the Lord himself. Seeing his firm resolve, his mother bade him farewell as he set out on a lonely journey to the forest. Dhruva was determined to seek for himself his rightful place, and noticing this resolve, the divine sage

Narada Narada ( sa, नारद, ), or Narada Muni, is a sage divinity, famous in Hindu traditions as a travelling musician and storyteller, who carries news and enlightening wisdom. He is one of mind-created children of Brahma, the creator god. He ...

appeared before him and tried to desist him from assuming a severe austerity upon himself at such an early age. But, Dhruva's fierce determination knew no bounds, and the astonished sage guided him towards his goal by teaching him the rituals and

mantra A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...

s to meditate on when seeking lord Vishnu. The one mantra which Narada taught and which was effectively used by Dhruva was

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya ''Om'' (or ''Aum'') (; sa, ॐ, ओम्, Ōṃ, translit-std=IAST) is a sacred sound, syllable, mantra, or an invocation in Hinduism. ''Om'' is the prime symbol of Hinduism.Krishna Sivaraman (2008), ''Hindu Spirituality Vedas Through Ved ...

. Having been advised, Dhruva started his meditation, and went without food and water for six months. The austerity of his tapasya shook the heavens and Vishnu appeared before him, but the child would not open his eyes because he was still merged in his inner vision of Vishnu's form described to him by Narada. Vishnu had to adopt a strategy of causing that inner vision to disappear. Immediately Dhruva opened his eyes, and, seeing outside what he had been seeing all along in his mental vision, bowed down before Vishnu. But he could not utter a single word. Vishnu touched Dhruva's right cheek by his divine conch and that sparked off his speech. Out poured forth a beautiful poem praising Vishnu in 12 powerful verses, which together are called ''Dhruva-stuti''.

gives a slightly different account here. When Vishnu was pleased with Dhruva's ''tapasya'' (penance) and asked him to ask for a ''varadāna'' (grant of wishes), he asked for the varadāna of a knowledge of ''stuti'' (hymn). Other persons would have asked for worldly or heavenly pleasures, or for

moksha ''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriology, ...

at most, but Dhruva had no personal desire. Renunciation of all desires is regarded to be essential for eternal peace in Hinduism: this is the meaning of ''Dhruva-pada''. That was the reason why the

Saptarshi The Saptarishi () are the seven rishis of ancient India who are extolled in the Vedas, and other Hindu literature. The Vedic Samhitas never enumerate these rishis by name, although later Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas and Upanisads do so. ...

s decided to give Dhruva the most revered seat of a star - the

. Having spent a long time in Vishnu's remembrance he even forgot the objective of his tapasya, and only asked for a life in memory of Vishnu. Pleased by his tapasya, Vishnu granted his wish and further decreed that he would attain ''Dhruva-pada'': the state where he would become a celestial body which would not even be touched by the Maha Pralaya. Dhruva returned to his kingdom, to be warmly received by his family, and attained the crown at the age of six. He ruled for many decades in a fair and just manner.

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Dhruva's story in the Vishnu Purana

Abridged Translation from the Vishnu Purana
{{HinduMythology Characters in Hindu mythology

Narrative

See also

References

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External links